Wrought Its Ghost Upon The Floor
by Wise-Lionturtle
Summary: Seven years after Trigon defeated the Titans and affirmed his absolute rule of Earth, a new hope is discovered that may turn the tides in the Titans' favor.
1. This Mystery Explore

**Chapter 1: This Mystery Explore**

I don't own Teen Titans, obviously.

Darkness, the scarred land suffused with its very essence. Any soul that could imagine such a place would most certainly look elsewhere and hastily banish the image from their memory. The barren and desolate land wasn't void of life, if you could call it that. Several beings traversed the expanse of this place hourly, though drone and emotionless. Sentinels fixed on a path, searching for anything which would be amiss and awaiting any further orders from those who command them.

The very rain that fell from the sky was unnaturally acidic, a direct result of the planets change in state over the past few years. The great seas that once occupied more than half of the planet's surface were now nothing more than deep craters and pits of molten rock. The sky radiated an ominous crimson color and the clouds were dark and threatening.

The remains of cities could be found; fallen structures and many dysfunctional machines were all that remain. The planet was in ruins, crumbling and falling apart more and more each day. This suited the new inhabitants perfectly, the faster it fell apart the better.

The majority of the planets habitable land had been scarred and burned so deep that it would take centuries for the ground to become fertile enough to produce life. Such was the intent. Life only got in the way.

A large and ominous spire loomed above one city in particular. The spire was gigantic, a necessity for the one who called it home. At times during the day, the shadow of the spire would eclipse the sun so as to cast a shadow miles in length across the expanse of the ruined city. The city was silent and void of life, not a creature was stirring. Save for the green mouse now scouting the area.

The mouse scurried around buildings and through broken pipelines, getting a good look at the surrounding area. It continued to wind in and out of alley ways and streets until stopping at the end of a road. It wasn't the end per say, but the rest of the road was nowhere in sight and in its place was a deathly hundred foot drop.

"Ktzzzkzt… BB, report…" He heard from his communicator. Beast Boy quickly surveyed the area, assuring there were no onlookers. He then shifted back into his human form, if you could call it human. It had been seven years since the planet had been overturned by Trigon, they had not been kind.

No longer was the short, skinny and comical young man present within him; only the hardened, battle-scarred man who was now much more focused and serious. Over the years he'd lost much, including his left eye. It was Her doing, and now in the eye's place was long and jagged scar which crossed most of his face. He'd found a larger white glass marble to replace the socket with, though he was still looking for a real glass eye. He would still crack a joke every now and then, he'd finally grasped the concept of appropriate timing.

He reached for his communicator out of his pocket, enjoying the luxury of actually having it. Only three years ago did Cyborg makeshift a satellite radio transceiver and put it into orbit around the planet, unnoticed. The previous satellites had been knocked out into space after the initial attack. Its only purpose was to keep the four of them in radio contact at all times, it certainly had saved their skins on multiple occasions.

"Beast Boy here, nothing new to report." He replied to Robin.

He had always pondered changing his name to Beast Man, considering his age. However, the resulting acronym nickname didn't sit well with him so he stuck with Beast Boy.

"Very well, head back to base. Robin out."He stated, ending the signal.

Beast Boy let out a sigh and shapeshifted into a hawk, flying towards the direction of their base. It wasn't much of a base, although it was in much better condition than when they'd found it. It was the old city arcade, refurbished courtesy of the city's resident half-human half-robot. A very large facility had been built underneath the arcade, it had multiple floors and every accommodation a team could need.

As he was flying he noticed a stone figure through the shattered window of an old office building. He dove towards it and landed next to it. After further inspect he decided that it had been undamaged.

"Robin, come in." He said into his communicator, still inspecting the stone form.

"Robin here, what is it?" He replied.

"I found another Terra, perfectly intact. I'll send you my coordinates."

He clicked the side button on the communicator and waited a few seconds.

"Coordinates received, we'll retrieve it on the next gather." The signal ended, and Beast Boy once again took off in the direction of the arcade.

The stone forms of people still remained throughout the city and most of the planet. The ones who were undamaged, Robin had brought back and was keeping them in a very large storage room for protection. Robin had dedicated the rest of his existence to figuring out a way to reverse the effects of Trigon. Beast Boy had been the one to suggest calling them Terras, as they all looked very similar to Terra after she had been encased in molten rock. Unfortunately the real Terra couldn't be reached. She was far too deep underground and the cavern that lead to her had collapsed long ago. One day they would hopefully find her.

He finally reached the arcade and went inside. There was much to the ground level; they had decided to build everything downward so as to avoid any unwanted attention. It was dusty and worn down, none of the games worked any longer and the only purpose they served now was as a good disguise. Beast Boy would always reminisce about his younger days while walking through the arcade; it was a place he visited frequently.

As he neared the back of the arcade, he began the all too familiar routine of opening the door to the elevator. Cyborg had done his job well and made it rather difficult for anyone to enter their base without prior knowledge of how to get in. Two randomly placed button clicks later and the door was open. This particular elevator could only go down to the fifth level, fortunately for Beast Boy that's their meeting room was.

As he exited the elevator he was greeted by a few welcome looks. Even though their current situation, most of the time they all kept an upbeat attitude. As soon as the looks were given, their owners returned to what they were doing.

Robin, as always, was on the Titan's new supercomputer, it was one of the first things they had constructed after discovering the abandoned arcade. It had been wired throughout all of the Titan's facility and was constantly alerting the team if anything was out of place. It had three gigantic windows, each of which had a different purpose. The middle window was the user interface portion, the left window being a still camera on the Terra storage room and the right being another camera focused at the entrance of the arcade. Robin was intently looking at them.

Cyborg was relaxing on the couch, he would be watching television but with the absence of a signal he wouldn't be getting very far. Their only source of entertainment was an older game system they had found that was compatible with their television, that and piles of books and magazines that survived the initial attack. Most of them preferred the former.

Cyborg was still his same size; he was relatively big in the first place. He'd added a few upgrades to his system, however. A couple tweaks on his boots and back panel allowed him to fly through the air relatively quickly, however not so gracefully. His arm cannon had been increased at least tenfold and had its power requirement halved. He was receiving recharges from a heat conductor he had placed near one of the lava expanses nearby the arcade; it converted the heat into energy and stored it in a battery that he plugged into every night.

Starfire had certainly gotten bigger throughout the years; her hair had grown in length and eventually reached her knees. She'd decided it would be best for her safety to keep it short from then on, after a few mishaps with flying too closely to lava and catching fire. Her hair was now only down to her shoulders, it was still the same light crimson color. She too had received a scar in the last few years of their fighting; well, she'd received several. The most prominent was the succession of three parallel lines that split her stomach diagonally. She'd gotten it in the same fight that Beast Boy lost his eye. Because of this, she now wore a much different outfit than before.

Her outfit was still purple; she'd still preferred to be wearing her favorite color. However it covered most of her mid section and had a little more plating on it for protection. It was more armor than it was outfit. Nonetheless she preferred it this way, this style of armor had saved her countless times from certain things that would have not been prevented with her old style.

She was still the happy and perky one of the group, always trying to be the optimist and cheer everyone up in times of gloom. It worked, for the most part. Every now and then it wouldn't, but given their predicament she supposed most of the time would suffice. Her English had been perfected over the years, and she had dropped most of the Tamaranian phrases she used. She hadn't returned to Tamaran since the incident, she'd felt no need to. She feared that she may be tracked and bring this arm to her planet as well. She still missed it dearly though.

"Yo BB, c'mere." Cyborg shouted from across the lounge. "Check this thing out." Cyborg motioned towards an object that was sitting on the table in front of the couch.

Beast Boy exited the elevator and grabbed the object off the table. It was a small cylindrical metal rock slab, or something. There was an imprint of three parallel lines cross the object, Beast Boy instantly connected the pattern with Starfire's scar.

"Hey Star, did you see this?" He questioned her as she glanced in his direction, folding the magazine she had been reading in her hands.

"Yes, I have. Curious isn't it?" She responded. "I wonder what it could be."

"It's a talon slash." Robin mumbled, without making a movement.

"We cannot jump to conclusions, Robin." She continued. "It could be anything."

"No, it's Hers. I can tell." There was a pause in the room, before Robin continued typing at the computer.

"What purpose do you think it could have?" Cyborg questioned. "It's just a rock."

"I'm not sure, but I will be looking…" He as cut off by the computer's alarm, the screen flashed red as the four of them stood up out of reaction. The screen showed a convoy of Trigon's fire sentinels making their way down the street, passing the arcade. There were hundreds.


	2. Each Seperate Dying Ember

**Chapter 2: Each Separate Dying Ember**

"Accursed device!" His voice echoed throughout the halls of the spire, as did the shattering impact of a rather large slab of granite he was trying to use. He'd been on this wretched planet far too long, there was nothing left to conquer here and he knew it. Unfortunately for him, when shifting to this plane of existence, the very spell he used had a slight backfire and he was now tethered to this planet. One last trick the Monks of Azar had up their sleeve. May their souls burn.

Defeated, momentarily, he rose from his throne and glanced out towards the glowing horizon. He wasn't entirely correct in stating there was nothing left to conquer. His daughter's pathetic allies still made frequent feeble attempts to destroy him. It was more of an enjoyable game at first, though it grew tedious after many years of their stalemate. He was much too powerful for them to ever take down, yet what little magic his daughter had infused them with prior to his arrival was ample to resist his most potent attacks. No matter, she couldn't bother him anymore.

"Hello, father." A voice came from behind him. He turned around hastily and swatted her against the wall. She landed with a loud thump, regained her stance, and knelt.

"Announce yourself before you enter my chamber!" He boomed aggressively, with no reaction from Raven.

"I apologize, father." She stated. Making sure to refrain from making eye contact, her head was faced towards the ground.

After finding a tiny shred of his daughter's existence still wandering around the scarred lands, he'd counted himself a little lucky. She had no apparent memory of anything previous save for her life in Azarath and was surprisingly willing to stand alongside her father. She'd spent a year and a half wandering around the broken planet, a lone nine year old who was struggling to survive.

She was now sixteen and resembled her former self quite well, save for being slightly older and not adorned in her usual dark blue cloak. Her father had replaced it with a darker scarlet color to mimic that of his own skin. It sported Trigon's symbol on the back of it in a lighter red color. She'd received her share of injuries throughout the years as well, though none which couldn't be healed over time through her magic.

"What do you need, daughter?" He questioned, gazing down upon her. He wasn't impressed by her loyalty or will to do his bidding. Since the day he'd found her, he'd been manipulating her thoughts to his liking and creating false illusions of her past to satisfy her curiosity.

"I've finished patrol for the day and am returning, as you requested."

"Very well, I will allow you to retire." He hated showing leniency towards her; there was at least time for another glance around the city before this planet's rotation cycle renewed.

Raven bowed and quietly exited the chamber. The scattered and sporadic hallways of the spire had become second nature to her; snaking her way in and out of them until she finally came upon her room.

It was nice. Quiet and desolate, bookcases lined the walls filled with innumerable pages she could read if she ever had spare time. This usually came late in the night and she would read until morning. Besides anything her father might request, this was what she usually did. She didn't sleep much, only on occasion only because it was physically necessary. Any rest she needed she usually got from meditation. She hated sleeping, she always had strange and confusing dreams that she didn't fully understand.

She entered the room and grabbed a book off one of the shelves. Tonight she had grabbed a rather interesting novel depicting the adventures of an old sorcerer and his apprentice. She'd gotten about halfway before dosing off to a peaceful slumber, book in hand.

"Over here!" Beast Boy leapt past Raven and tripped over the couch clumsily. He stood up and after dusting himself off, embarrassingly shrugged.

A football whizzed past her ear, so close that she could hear it whistle. Beast Boy jumped in time to catch it, the sheer force of the throw moving him back all the way to the glass window.

"Wow." Cyborg whistled. "Nice catch!" He began waving his hands back and forth and running towards the other side of the room. Beast Boy took aim with the football and threw.

Cyborg jumped for it, but missed. There was a loud crash as Beast Boy quickly acted innocent. Cyborg recovered from the throw and glared him down.

"You threw that way too high!" Cyborg yelled, staring angrily back at the now shattered cabinet in their kitchen.

"You jumped too low!" Beast Boy retorted, not ready to take blame for this mishap.

"You have to throw like this." Cyborg demonstrated, as he picked up the ball and threw it back towards Beast Boy. The ball suddenly stopped in mid air, with a dark aura surrounding it. Both of them looked at Raven.

"Aww, c'mon Raven. You're ruining the fun." Beast Boy pleaded.

"Go. Out. Side." Raven angrily said without lifting her eyes up from the book she was reading. She released the ball.

The two of them grabbed the ball and ran into the elevator, relatively peacefully. She continued to read her book for several minutes before being interrupted once again, this time by Starfire.

"Hello, friend…" She began. Raven let out a sigh and looked up.

"What is it, can't you see I'm trying to read." Raven held up her book visibly, even though it was plainly obvious.

"My apologies, I was wondering if you've seen Robin. I cannot seem to locate him." She added.

"No, Star. I haven't seen him."

"Very well then, I will continue my search." Starfire turned around and walked towards the next room. Just before entering the door she turned around.

"Raven?" She said.

"Yes?"

"Later, perhaps you and I can go to the mall and have another girls' day out?"

"Perhaps."

"Glorious!" Starfire jumped into the air with pleasure. Then exited the room.

Raven stood up, she decided that maybe the roof would be a better place to be in peace. She took the elevator to the top. The roof was quiet and isolated, she levitated over to the edge of the tower and began meditating.

"Azarath Metrione Zinthos."

"Azarath Metrione Zinthos."

"Azarath Metri…"

"Hey, Raven." A voice from behind her interrupted her yet again. This time it was Robin's, he was wearing his normal workout clothing and dribbling a basketball. "How about a little one on one."

"Hardly. Starfire is looking for you." She droned.

"Come on, one game can't hurt."He said. Raven turned around to face Robin, reached for him, and with all her force flung him off the side of the tower. Robin screamed as the sky around them began to glow red.

She was suddenly filled with a very deep sensation of terror as she looked over the edge and saw Robin plummeting helplessly to the ground. She jumped after him. She gave everything she had and was trying extremely hard to catch him. What had she been thinking? She was so close, just a few more inches. He reached back up towards her, a look of absolute fear in his eyes. She strained to try to catch him.

Too late.

She woke up sweating, still holding the book in her hands tightly and wearing all her normal clothes. She glanced out the window and noticed the sun peaking over the horizon. She glanced down at the book she was still holding; she remembered it from her dream. It was the same book. She was definitely putting this one away for later.

It was similar to the other dreams she'd been having. She was always living peacefully at a place she'd come to know as Titan's tower, with the four others that she constantly fought. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy. She didn't understand these dreams at all, why would her subconscious be pairing her with her enemies.

They always ended the same way too. She would be quietly alone with one of them, although it was usually Robin, and then she would do something to cause their demise. The majority of them took place at the Titan's tower place, though some in places that she'd sworn she'd seen before. In fact, many parts of her dreams seemed very familiar to her.

She'd yet to inform her father of the dreams, for fear of what he might think. If they continued for much longer however, she was going to have to find a way to put a stop to them.

She let out a sigh, might as well get prepared for the day. She placed the book on the nightstand next to her bed and left the room, out to see what her father wished her to do for the day, still thinking about her strange dream.


	3. Eagerly I Wished The Morrow

Chapter 3: Eagerly I wished the morrow.

One of the first problems that was considered about having a base underground was the fact that the Titans could not exit efficiently and quickly. After a few months of piling into the elevator and listening to the rhythmic elevator melody Cyborg had picked out when installing it, they decided there needed to be a faster way out of the base.

Robin had discovered the arcade's sewer line and followed it to the main tract. After concluding that it was plausible to tunnel the distance from the main tract to the arcade, construction went underway. It was much more efficient than leaving through the elevator, albeit a great deal more disgusting. Though, seeing as how it was not being used for its intended purpose any longer, over time it became more of a tunnel than a sewer. It was also a great way to move around the city undetected, the sewer had many crisscrossing branches that lead to the majority of the buildings throughout. Unfortunately, many of the tunnels had collapsed or been destroyed altogether.

The nearest exit from the tunnel was underneath an old broadcasting station. It was a taller building and the Titans used it for scouting purposes. They made their way up through the building and glanced down to the road where the fire sentinels were. They were all flooding through the road, moving in the same direction. The mass of sentinels continued going straight for a couple blocks then headed out into the wasteland, out of sight.

"Where are they going…?" Starfire questioned, amazed at their sheer numbers.

"I know one way to find out." Robin said, before sprinting and jumping out of a broken window to the rooftop of the adjacent building. The others glanced at each other briefly before following.

Robin was now the only member of the group who didn't have readily available flying capabilities. He had his machines, though, but still preferred to move on foot. As he approached the edge of the city he stopped on the edge of a building and waited for the others to arrive. He continued to watch the convoy of sentinels.

As the others approached, Robin motioned for Star to pick him up so they could continue. They followed the line of sentinels into the wasteland for miles. They all seemed to be mindlessly moving.

"Oh! This store next! Their tiny figurines of domestic animals are so adorable!" Starfire squealed as she began running towards their newest target location, Raven in hand.

"Do we have to?" Raven complained with a sigh, dropping all her weight as Starfire continued to drag her.

"We must!"

They entered the store and Starfire's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. She began dashing in random directions grabbing, hugging and squeezing every animal toy they had in the store. Raven waited at the front and picked up a stuffed animal, looking at it curiously.

"How can anybody stand these things?" She said.

"Ok! I've got a few I'm going to buy!" Starfire said as she returned with a very wide grin. Raven and the cashier's mouth dropped when they saw Starfire's immense load if toys.

After many agonizing minutes of scanning toys, the cashier finally finished. Raven didn't doubt she would be hearing a beeping noise all day.

"That'll be $287.99." He said. Starfire shoved a credit card in his face, eager to receive her toys.

"How did you manage to get some spending money, Star?" Raven inquired.

"I didn't! That's the best part!" Starfire replied.

"… What do you mean."

"Well see, I went to an establishment called a credit union and they gave me a card that purchases items and I don't have to pay for them." She elaborated.

"You know you have to pay that back sometime right?"

"Sorry Ma'am, your card has been denied." The cashier said, handing back the credit card.

After many tears were shed about lost toys and even more tears from Raven's side about restocking the shelves, they finally left the mall and began the trek back to the tower.

"Raven, I certainly appreciate you "palling around with me" today, it was most enjoyable to have a friend come along. We must do it again sometime." Starfire said to Raven after a few moments of silence during their flight.

"Can't wait." Raven replied sarcastically and rolled her eyes. They looked at each other for a second, and then began to laugh.

Raven awoke, surprised by her father's booming voice.

"Rise, daughter, our enemies are vulnerable." Trigon commanded, and Raven obeyed.

She knelt before him and awaited further orders. In the back of her mind she couldn't help but notice that she didn't kill Starfire in her dream. That had never happened before; perhaps it was because her dream was cut short.

"They are on the outskirts of the city, following a few drones. Eradicate them."

Raven nodded, and then took off in their direction. After a few minutes of flying, she was almost to the pack of drones her father had mentioned. She scouted the area, looking around buildings and on rooftops for where the Titans may be. She spotted them and began to move in.

"Look, up there!" Beast Boy pointed, and the rest of the Titan's eyes followed.

She slashed with her arm at the corner of the building, a slash of energy mimicked on the buildings side and cut the corner of it straight off.

"Jump!" yelled Robin. Robin was now the only flightless Titan, as Cyborg had created and installed a very portable and efficient jetpack on his back. Robin landed on the ground and began running in Raven's direction.

The other Titans had flown into the air and were now flying headed Raven. Raven knew all of their tactics and weaknesses and used them to her advantage every fight. Together they were a strong and resilient team, but separated they were no match for her.

She grabbed her cloak and pulled it around herself, vanishing in a fading swirl of dark energy. The flying Titans froze and began scanning the area.

Her first target was Robin. Being the only Titan on the ground, he could not escape as easily. Though he was agile enough to scale buildings, but not fast enough to do so before she could stop him. Raven appeared in an alleyway in between two buildings along the outskirts of the city, the alleyway leaded deeper into the city. She knew Robin was confident and always wanting to be the hero, so she provoked him.

She noticed Robin was now standing still and looking around into the sky searching for her. She levitated a rock from the ground and flung it in Robin's direction. He easily dodged it, such was her intent. He looked in her direction and as soon as they made eye contact, Raven disappeared into the shadows of the city. Robin pursued.

As he was running, Robin removed his communicator.

"She's retreating into the city, you three watch from the sky. I'm pursuing on foot." He yelled.

She waited, seeing Robin run blindly into the alleyways. He was frantically looking for her. He began to slow and walked down one of the darker alleyways, making sure to check every corner. She levitated a piece of broken rock from the ground and closed off the alleyway. Robin turned around quickly.

He reached for his communicator and before he could send a message, a dark aura surrounded it and flew in Raven's direction. She grasped it and then looked at Robin. Robin brought out his staff and stood in a defensive position.

"Now, now." She said sarcastically. Her eyes had become four dark glowing red eyes and her voice was now slightly more demonic sounding. She crushed the communicator.

"How about a little one on one." She added, with a smirk. She used her energy to slam and pin him against the alley wall and began walking closer.

"You're a monster!" He said, and spat in her direction. She chuckled.

"Believe me, you haven't even seen monster." She lifted her right hand up, and behind her hand dark energy began to form into something that resembled a raven's talon. She pinned his head against the wall with her other hand then brought her head next to his.

"This won't hurt a bit." She said. She then slashed with right hand towards Robin; the force of the slash was so great that the brick wall he had been pinned against collapsed on top of him.

Raven paused for a moment, unsure if she had put an end to him. She listened and could hear coughing coming from under the rubble. She reached back for one more slash and then… THWAK.

She was hit from the side by a rampaging rhino. She flew quite a ways and then slammed into the nearest wall. Beast Boy shapeshifted into a gorilla and began hurling bits of the rubble off of Robin. The rest of the team wasn't far behind. He uncovered Robin and picked him up, he was unconscious. He was bleeding profusely and had three streaks across his body.

Starfire and Cyborg approached. Starfire cupped her hands over her mouth in awe and Cyborgs eyes widened.

"We need to leave, now!" Beast Boy said. The other two nodded and they flew off in the direction of the nearest sewer entrance.

Raven regained her composure and noticed the Titans retreating. She flew after them and maintained a safe distance so she would not be spotted. The Titans lowered into the city and Raven watched from atop a nearby building. She saw Beast Boy look around, and deciding that the coast was clear he opened a manhole in the street and the three of them jumped in.

"The sewers." Raven said aloud to herself. "Interesting."


End file.
